


I'm disaster

by swallowthewhale



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-08-28 12:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8446360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Sara is keeping one resurrected Leonard Snart hostage on the Waverider, attempting to bring his memories back, and also trying not to get killed by the Legion of Doom. Sara's never been very good at juggling.
Captain Canary Awards 2017 Round 2 Nominee: Best Legion of Doom Themed Fic





	1. Day One

“If you've come to tell me I'm a hero,” Snart drawls. “Save it.”

Sara leans against the wall opposite the cell. She keeps her chin up and her arms crossed, defensive. Snart is sprawled across the cot. She tries to keep her eyes on the wall above his head, instead of letting them drift like she used to. “That's not what I was going to say.”

He tilts his head, curious despite himself. These strangers act like they know him, like they like him. He's keen on keeping his distance.

“You saved the world,” Sara says bluntly. “Even if you don't remember.”

Snart stands slowly, meanders over to the door and leans against it. “And what exactly do you want me to remember? You?” His voice is harsh but Sara doesn't flinch.

“Me. And you.” She finally looks at him. “And me and you.”

He means to sneer, but it comes out more like a grimace. “I don’t do feelings.”

Sara shrugs, like she already knew that.

“They're going to kill you all, you know.”

“I've died before.”

“You should let me go.”

She almost smiles. “They'll kill us anyway.”

Snart edges closer as she heads for the door. “Sara.”

She pauses, but doesn't look at him.

“I've been told that the worst way to die is alone.”

Sara doesn't stay to find out what he means, or to explain that she's the one who told him that. She locks herself in her room and cries until her breathing evens out and her head hurts. Then she takes a hot shower and goes to find Rip.

“Well?” he asks without looking up from the console.

She rolls her eyes and plops into the Captain’s chair. He scowls. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know if he can change or you don’t know what we should do with him?”

Sara shrugs. “Both? I don’t know. He might have the memories of us in there somewhere, but who knows what kind of brainwashing Merlyn, Darhk, and Thawne did to him.”

“He’s not that different,” Mick grumbles from the doorway.

“Except he wants to kill us now,” Rip says, finally looking up from the computer.

Mick grins. “So did I.”

Rip rubs his forehead. “We can’t keep him on the Waverider for much longer.”

“What do you think, Blondie?”

Sara sighs. “I don’t want to give up on him.”

With Snart’s dinner, Sara brings a pack of cards. They play gin and Sara lets him cheat but doesn’t let him win. After she beats him three times in a row, he starts to get an odd, pinched look. She wonders if he’s just mad that he’s losing or if he might be remembering the first time she beat him at cards. He’d been so stunned, but he’d just flashed one of the only genuine smiles she’s seen on him and dealt out another round. Sara always thought he might actually like that she can give him a run for his money.

“I don’t think this is a very fair game,” he finally says, his face carefully blank.

“I’m not the one who’s cheating,” Sara says innocently.

“You can read me better than I can read you. I’d call that an unfair advantage.” He’s scowling now and Sara almost giggles.

“More of an advantage than the pair of Kings you’ve got up your sleeve?”

Snart blinks at her, his face suddenly open and honest. Sara flinches when she can’t see the old fondness she’d gotten so used to. She tosses her cards down.

“I’m tired,” she mumbles, getting up.

“Goodnight, Sara,” Snart says quietly, the sneer gone.

Sara watches his long fingers shuffling the deck for a moment too long before she says, just as quietly, “Goodnight, Leonard.”


	2. Day Eleven

She doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when she passes by, the door’s open and she can hear Mick’s voice.

“The Time Masters found me and turned me into Chronos. I almost killed everyone on this ship multiple times.”

“And why didn’t you?”

Sara can imagine Mick’s uncomfortable shrug. “In the end, I couldn’t kill my partner.”

“I’m not your partner.”

“You’ll always be my partner,” Mick says quietly.

Sara hurries around the corner before Mick catches her listening.

That night, Sara lies on the bench outside the cell, a mirror image of Leonard. Their heads would be touching if not for the glass seperating them. The proximity or the intimacy isn’t what is making Leonard uncomfortable, but the way it feels so natural, like this is how they belong.

“My mom used to sing the same song to me every night,” Leonard says suddenly. “I can’t remember the words anymore.”

“What was it about?”

“Something about sunshine.” He pauses then hums a few bars.

Sara is quiet for a very long time. Leonard thinks she’s not going to say anything when she sings very quietly, “Til the end of time, these are ties that bind. Til the sun don’t shine, you will still be mine.”

Leonard’s breath catches in his chest. He coughs. “How...?”

“I used to have nightmares.” Sara’s voice is emotionless. “And you would lie on the floor next to my bed, and talk to me until I fell asleep. I think you thought I was asleep already, when you sang it.”

They both fall silent, and Leonard pretends not to hear Sara cry.

Sara’s asleep when the ship bucks, tossing her off the bench. She lands on her feet, like a cat, alert and confused. Leonard is sitting on the floor, one hand gripping the leg of the cot to prevent himself from sliding across the room.

Sara pulls her hair into a ponytail. “I’ll be back,” she says tersely.

Rip is on the bridge, surrounded by the team, mostly in pajamas.

“Did something break?” Stein asks.

“Are we under attack?” Ray sounds almost excited.

“What’s going on?” Mick rumbles when Rip doesn’t answer.

“I don’t know!”

Sara fingers the hilt of the knife tucked into her belt. “You never seem to know,” she says, eyes narrowed at the emergency alerts Gideon is projecting onto the holo-display.

Rip scowls.

Sara sighs when Rip remains silent, shoves him out of the way, and sorts through the alerts. “Jax, will you check on the engines please? They seem fine, just overheated. Professor, will you and Ray make sure there’s no damage?”

“What happened?” Mick asks again.

“I think we were hit by something,” Sara mutters. “We’ve been knocked off course.”

Rip frowns. “We aren’t falling.”

“Not yet.”

“Can we regain our course?”

Sara’s fingers fly over the console. “Nope. We need to strap in. We’re going to start free falling in about five minutes. Mick, find Ray and Stein. Rip, check on Jax. I’m going to get Snart.”

Rip gapes at her for a moment before blocking her path. She glares. “Sara, you can’t do that.”

“He won’t survive a fall through space and time in there!”

“What if this is his plan?” Rip hisses.

Sara grips the knife tucked at the small of her back but doesn’t pull it out yet. “Get out of my way.”

Rip hesitates, but he notices the hand out of sight behind her back, and relents.

Leonard is exactly where he was when Sara left. “I need you to promise me something.” Sara meets his eyes, hopes that he knows her well enough again to recognize how serious this is.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” It sounds like more of a warning than a refusal, so she continues.

“We’ve lost control of the engines. I need you to promise not to hurt anyone if I let you out.”

Leonard flexes his fingers, considering. “What if I stay in here?”

“You’ll die,” Sara says flatly.

“And if I break my promise?”

Sara doesn’t have to say it, he can see the look in her eyes, and the knife in her hand.

“I promise.”

Leonard is surprised when Sara doesn’t lead him back to the cell after they’ve crashed and started repairs.

“I figured you could use some sleep in a real bed,” Sara says when she lets him in.

The room is small and bare. Leonard sits on the bed.

“You won’t be able to open the door,” she says pointedly. “If you need anything, just ask Gideon.”

Sara’s right, Leonard’s neck has been aching from the hard cot. He falls asleep quickly, and when he wakes up some time later, he sets about exploring the room. It’s mostly empty. There’s a long jacket in the closet and a pair of boots. A carved wooden box sits on the desk, but when he opens it, it’s empty. He amuses himself with the deck of cards Sara left for him until he grows bored of solitaire. He finds drawers under the bed, mostly filled with sheets and blankets, but one has a small selection of books. All his favorites. Curious.

“Gideon, who’s room is this?”

“It’s yours now, Mr. Snart,” Gideon say, chipper as always.

He rolls his eyes. He’s learning that Gideon only answers the questions she wants to.


	3. Day Twenty-Four

They’re playing poker, and Sara is losing badly. She normally keeps tight control of her face and her body, but today her hands are shaking and there’s a crease between her eyebrows that doesn’t go away, no matter how snarky and sarcastic Leonard is. He can usually make her laugh.

“Having problems?” he asks innocently when he beats her three of a kind with a straight flush. He didn’t even have to cheat.

Sara scowls and reshuffles.

Leonard snatches the deck out of her hands. “Nope. Not until you tell me what’s got you so aggravated.”

Sara leans back against the wall with a huff. “We’re having trouble tracking your buddies,” she finally says.

Leonard grimaces. “I wouldn’t call them my friends.”

Sara rolls her eyes. “That’s right. You don’t have any friends.”

Normally, Leonard would agree with her, but today he keeps quiet. He sometimes wonders if the Leonard that Sara used to know was her friend.

“Did they ever tell you what they did to me?” Sara asks quietly.

He shakes his head.

“Merlyn had me killed,” Sara says bluntly. “And Darkh killed my sister.”

Leonard’s eyebrows twitch up in shock. He only stops shuffling for a fraction of a second. Sara has mentioned a few times in passing that she has died before. He’s never gotten around to asking what exactly she means by that. “So you almost died?”

“No,” Sara says and he meets her eyes this time. “I was dead for a year.”

Leonard stands and leans against the far wall. “They threatened my sister.”

Sara walks towards the door and pauses when she’s shoulder to shoulder with him. “I know.”

The door hisses behind her and locks. Leonard slumps to the floor. There’s something about the way Sara looks at him, like she can see through him and see him at the same time. He’s never felt bad about working with dangerous people before.

 

He tries to hack Gideon. ‘Try’ being the operative word. He was always the mastermind behind the scheme, and left the actual hacking up to, well, hackers. He considers just punching the interface, when Gideon pipes up.

“Can I help you with something, Mr. Snart?”

Leonard knows there are no cameras in the room so he doesn’t feel too embarrassed when he jumps. “Don’t do that,” he snaps.

“Do what, Mr. Snart?”

Leonard sighs. Never try to argue with an AI. “Never mind.”

“Did you not need something?”

Leonard narrows his eyes at the screen. “What can you give me?”

“I can make anything you’d like, besides weapons,” Gideon says. She almost sounds happy.

Leonard waves her off. “No, I’d like information.”

Gideon hesitates. “What information would you like Mr. Snart?”

“Tell me about Sara Lance.”

Gideon’s reply is immediate this time. “I can’t do that.”

Leonard scowls at the screen.

“Your memories have been either altered or erased. Telling you about your past or future, or giving you information that you used to know could change the timeline.”

Leonard smacks the screen. It’s not nearly as satisfying as hitting a person. Gideon doesn’t even flinch.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Leonard leans back in the chair. “How about some new reading material. It’s pretty boring in here.”


	4. Day Forty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken so long. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with this story and got completely sidetracked by the current situation in US politics. I hope you enjoy!

Gideon gives him a tablet with unlimited books, news articles, and scientific papers. Conspicuously, there’s nothing published after December 2015. Odd.

Leonard has read every book he’s ever wanted to, caught up on the latest news stories from late 2015, and deciphered a handful of papers on the theories of time-travel and quantum physics. He is completely and utterly bored. He’s also been over every inch of the room and found the first and only room he can’t escape from. Without attacking everyone on board, that is. Which he would very much like to avoid, knowing just how capable Mick and Sara are alone. 

He’s staring at the ceiling, contemplating asking Gideon if she has a movie database, when the ship shudders underneath him. He rolls off the bed to sit up.

“Gideon?”

“Yes, Mr. Snart?”

He rolls his eyes. She could benefit from some intuition. “What’s happening?”

“We’re being attacked,” she says cheerfully. “Nothing to worry about.”

Leonard raises an eyebrow, wondering what optimistic idiot programed the thing. “Where’s Sara?”

Gideon pauses. “She’s on her way, Mr. Snart.”

Moments later, the door slides open. Sara’s hair is crimped and messy, and she’s wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans. She has knives in both hands.

“C’mon, Leonard.” 

He sweeps past her into the hall, eyes alert for any chance to slip away in the confusion. Not that he knows where exactly he’d go, or how he’d get there.

“Your friends finally found us,” Sara says, leading him towards the bridge. “They’re not attacking, yet.”

“It seems they’re trying to pull us in with their tractor beam,” Rip says tersely. Though Leonard hasn’t heard Rip be anything but terse.

“Well, how do we fix it?” Jax asks, gripping the console to keep from sliding across the room.

Rip doesn’t answer and Sara rolls her eyes. “Jax, can we shut down non-essentials and re-route the power to the engines? If we can get enough speed, maybe we can break away.”

Jax hurries off, with Ray on his heels. Sara pivots to find Stein.

“If we time jump now, will they get pulled with us? Will they be able to track us?”

Stein frowns and glances at Rip, who doesn’t seem to be paying much attention. “I’m not sure. It depends on how advanced their timeship is. That they were able to find us in the timestream does not bode well.”

“We have to get out of their beam first,” Rip says suddenly. “Then we can jump. Everyone strap in, best be prepared.”

“Shouldn’t we be prepared for if we can’t get away?” Amaya asks drily, almost to herself.

Sara pats her shoulder. “It’ll work out. It almost always does.” She winks at Leonard.

“So reassuring,” he mutters.

They semi-crash into the Grand Canyon in 1912, which is as good a remote location as any, because it turns out that whatever kind of technology Thawne, Merlyn, and Darkh have is perfectly capable of tracking them. Sara locks Leonard in his room.

“They don’t need to know that you’re here,” she says. And even though she sounds grim, the way she twirls one of her knives gives Leonard the impression that she’s looking forward to a good fight. Not that Leonard begrudges her that. He’d give up an intricate and perfectly planned heist for a nice brawl after being stuck in a cell for two months.

Gideon refuses to let him watch the fight, but she does inform him not even half an hour later that Merlyn, Darkh, and Thawne have retreated.

Sara knocks on his door five minutes later, a long red scar bleeding sluggishly down one arm and a red welt on her cheek that looks like it was dealt by the blunt end of a gun or sword.

“That’s pretty,” Leonard snarks as soon as Sara walks in.

Sara glances at her arm, but Leonard jerks his chin at her face. She rolls her eyes. “That’s nothing.”

When Leonard raises an eyebrow in challenge, Sara hikes up the hem of her shirt to reveal three puncture marks.

“I was shot three times by an arrow.”

“Sounds painful.” He tries not to appear sympathetic.

Sara shrugs and leans against the wall across from the bed. “It killed me.”

Leonard frowns. “You were serious about that.”

She quirks her mouth in a half-smile. “Death is no laughing matter.”

She’s mostly joking, but Leonard grimaces. “I should have taken them out when I had the chance.”

Sara fidgets. “I don’t think three against one are the best odds.”

“It would have made it easier for you,” Leonard points out.

“No,” Sara says quietly. “You being dead would never be easier for me.”

Leonard shifts uncomfortably under her gaze. “Will you do something for me?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Make sure Lisa is safe.”

Sara relaxes. “I can do that.”

“And then let me help.”

She stiffens. “No.”

Leonard unfolds himself from the bed, strides across the room to come toe to toe with her. “You have to. I can play double agent, keep you one step ahead.”

Sara sinks back against the wall, keeping as much space between them as she can without stepping away. “They’ll kill you if they catch you.”

“Maybe it’s worth it,” Leonard says quietly, the drawl gone.

Her head hits the wall when she finally meets his gaze. “I can’t lose you again.”

Leonard doesn’t bother to ask what she means. He brushes her hand with his. “Maybe you’re worth it.”


	5. Epilogue: Day Three Hundred

Sara is stiff and quiet while Gideon does the scan. She’s standing there in a Grecian style dress looking like she’s stepped out of an early 1800s period drama, except for the hands propped on her hips and the scowl playing over her face.

Leonard still thinks she looks beautiful.

Maybe Sara’s right. Maybe there is something wrong with his head.

The equipment shuts off and Gideon stays quiet for a very long time before Sara snaps at her.

“My apologies, Ms. Lance. I think I should consult with Dr. Stein before I come to any conclusions.”

Gideon doesn’t sound apologetic. She sounds just as cheery as always. Leonard has come to appreciate her odd sort of poker face, even when her constant carefree tone drives him crazy.

Sara’s frowning again, her arms crossed now. “Gideon, can’t you just tell us if something’s wrong?”

Gideon hesitates. “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong.”

“You don’t sound too sure,” Leonard drawls, feeling rather unperturbed considering they’re discussing his sanity. Or lack thereof.

Luckily for Gideon, Stein walks in before Sara has to go find him. He deliberates very quietly with Gideon over the scans.

“Well?” Sara snaps when neither Stein nor Gideon says anything.

Stein clears his throat. “It seems that Mr. Snart has sustained no brain damage. His scans look fine.”

Leonard would grin at the deepening scowl on Sara’s face if he wasn’t so concerned himself. “If the scans are fine then why couldn’t Gideon just say that?”

Stein clears his throat again and edges toward the door. “Gideon has a… theory. According to your biometric scans, you are too old to have come from 2015.”

“What does that mean?” Leonard snaps, but Sara has gone deathly pale.

“No,” she says faintly. “How is that even possible?”

Stein fidgets with his glasses. “I’m not sure how, but Mr. Snart survived the explosion at the Vanishing Point and has lost all memory of his time on the Waverider.”

Sara stumbles backwards against the wall.

Leonard unhooks himself from Gideon’s machines. “What explosion?”

Stein takes several steps backwards and disappears through the door. Sara braces her hands on her knees. “The one that killed you.”

That stops Leonard from getting up from the examination table. “That’s what you’ve been dancing around all this time. You didn’t want to tell me that I’d died.”

Sara slides down the wall. “I didn’t want to tell you because it either hadn’t happened to you yet, or you didn’t remember. Either way, I couldn’t risk messing with the timeline.”

Leonard stands slowly and sits next to her on the floor, stretching his legs out in front of him. “What happened before I died?”

Sara rests her cheek on her knees and avoids his gaze. “We found out the Time Masters were controlling everyone using the Oculus. We had to blow it up to stop them.”

“Between us.” Leonard presses.

Sara sighs. “We kissed.”

“That’s it?” He asks suspiciously. He’d thought there would be more than that. He has a sneaking suspicion that falling in love with Sara Lance is something he’s bound to keep doing, no matter how many times he dies or loses his memories.

Sara looks away, but not before he spots the tears.

“Sara.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Leonard,” she snaps, going for cold but ending up more watery than anything.

“I don’t want you to say anything,” he says eventually, and cool fingers slide under her chin, turning her back towards him.

Sara’s breath catches at the look in his eyes, warm, fond, and very, very familiar. “You remember?” she whispers.

“I don’t have to.”

Leonard kisses her and when her hand curls around his arm, he remembers.


End file.
